The present invention relates to television delivery systems. More particularly, and not by way of limitation, the present invention is directed to a system and method for providing Video On Demand (VOD) content at remote locations.
VOD systems allow users to purchase and consume multimedia content within their own Multiple System Operator (MSO)/cable system. This content is played out through a Set Top Box (STB) and television (TV) within the user's premises.
Within the realm of movie rental companies, product offerings such as Netflix enable a user to log in to his/her account from any geographic location to view a catalog of available movies and to add selected movies to the user's queue. For subscribers of cable TV services, this is not an option. Due to the nature of the STB customer premises equipment used for cable offerings, subscribers cannot view their subscription content or a catalog of available content on another piece of equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,783,892 to Russell et al. describes a system for accessing portable media content subscription service privileges, and/or other privileged or protected content or resources. The Russell patent discloses a system for taking encrypted linear broadcast services such as HBO®, Showtime®, or XM Radio® broadcast feeds, which are encrypted with public and private keys, and playing those linear broadcast services on STBs other than the subscriber's STB. Normally, only encryption keys generated for the subscriber's STB are able to decrypt those broadcast linear services. The Russell patent generates public and private keys and then pairs those keys to other devices so they are not “hard wired” to only be used by the subscriber in his home. VOD, however, is not handled in the same way as linear broadcasts, and the Russell patent is not relevant to remote VOD services.